1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system for accessing stored messages over a network and, more particularly, is directed to a system for providing unified access to stored messages, such as multimedia mail messages, in a unified multimedia mailbox through multiple access pathways such as over a telephone network using a telephone and over the Internet using a browser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems currently exist that allow different types of messages, such as voice mail messages and facsimile messages, to be stored for later retrieval by a subscriber to such systems. These types of systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,029,199; 5,193,110; 5,260,990; 5,263,080; 5,475,748; 5,493,607; 5,524,139; 5,519,766 and 5,008,926, all incorporated by reference herein. These systems allow a caller or sender to leave a message, such as a voice mail message, for a subscriber whenever the subscriber is not available. When a voice mail message is to be retrieved the subscriber typically connects with the system over a conventional telephone line via a telephone call and plays the message by using the touchtones produced by the telephone to control playback, as well as other functions. In these systems the access by the subscriber is typically only through a telephone line connection. Today, there is a need to allow access to such systems through other means such as the Internet or Intranet.
Several different types of messaging systems, such as voice mail and e-mail, are also available to users. Users of the variety of today's messaging systems typically have to use several different systems and/or terminals to get their messages. A typical business user may have several voice mailboxes, several e-mail mailboxes, and perhaps some mailbox-like facsimile services. Each of these mailboxes requires separate operations and different types of terminals (DTMF telephone for voice mail, personal computer (PC) for e-mail access, facsimile machine/PC for facsimile messages). The mailboxes have different names (addresses) and cannot usually interwork. Notification mechanisms are either non-existent, or tied to one of the mailboxes. What is needed is a mailbox system that integrates all of these message types and access methods.